Disgrace

Former Judge Larry Seidlin is a disgrace to his profession. Free advertising for his TV show, Psychic Court, and book, The Killing of Anna Nicole Smith, via newspaper articles and a recent Today Show interview are not news. One more reason for the rest of the country to view South Floridians as a bunch of loonies. Nancy Paris, Hollywood

We recently arrived at our home airport, through the international terminal, for the first time. We usually enter through Miami. What a disgrace. The terminal itself was substandard by today's U.S. airports. And it took more than two hours to go through immigration and customs, with unbelievable lines. I thought there was a problem, so I asked a worker who said it was always that way and will probably get worse. This will continue to be the case if the airport doesn't come up with a solution before they add additional international flights, as proposed.

The calendar by Publix listing a major Muslim holy day and omitting Pearl Harbor Day is a total disgrace. Pearl Harbor Day's effect on all Americans, especially our veterans, who gave so much of themselves so that our country could survive, is unimaginable. This illustrates everything that is going wrong in our country today. It is "political correctness" running amok. Unless it is turned around, we will not have to worry about terror groups destroying us. We will do it to ourselves from within.

A disgraced former attorney who misappropriated millions of dollars in client funds has finally broken his silence, saying he stayed in rooming houses after vanishing suddenly from his Boca Raton home last year. "In the Spring of 2013, I realized that I was not just a lawyer but a thief," Timothy McCabe wrote in a three-page letter filed in federal court Tuesday. "I had lost my moral compass. " It was the first public explanation from McCabe since his two-month disappearance and subsequent guilty plea on five counts of bank fraud.

The recent expose of the phony veterans dressed in Army fatigues soliciting donations for war vets has brought to light the most distasteful and disgraceful injustice to the memory of millions of veterans who sacrificed, served and died for the right of a free society. Moreover, their chief operating officer is quoted as saying that you don't have to be a vet to help a vet. Maybe so, but in no way do you put on that uniform with fake sanctions unless you have taken an oath to have the privilege to wear it. Their acts lack the credibility of their right to that uniform, and their imitation of a veteran only increases our disdain and contempt for this group.

We recently arrived at our home airport, through the international terminal, for the first time. We usually enter through Miami. What a disgrace. The terminal itself was substandard by today's U.S. airports. And it took more than two hours to go through immigration and customs, with unbelievable lines. I thought there was a problem, so I asked a worker who said it was always that way and will probably get worse. This will continue to be the case if the airport doesn't come up with a solution before they add additional international flights, as proposed.

Senate Democrats holding up President George Bush's nominations to the federal judiciary and State Department is not politics as usual, but a disgrace. A vote by the Senate would approve all of Bush's nominations, but a few committee chairmen are fouling up the country by blocking hearings and approvals for personal reasons. Jerry Patterson Tamarac

There is a quality that is both strikingly modern and hauntingly traditional in the ongoing public disgrace of former South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan. Chun, who relinquished his eight-year military dictatorship nine months ago under the pressure of protests by students and the middle class, went on nationwide television last week to apologize to the people for his abuses of power. He acknowledged his corruption and that of his relatives, gave a partial accounting of his wealth, promised to return some $24 million to the treasury and departed his Seoul mansion for a period of meditation and repentance at a remote Buddhist monastery.

Everyone has a right to their opinion. There is, however, a difference between offering an opinion and being a person who is hate-spewing, ignorant, racist, and morally and ethically deficient. The office of President of the United States deserves respect — even if you disagree politically with our current president's policies. Ted Nugent is beneath contempt in how he characterizes the president. He is just one more example of the ignorance, bigotry and hatred our society is plagued with today, and he does not deserve the space given him. Linda Ribner, Lauderhill

Jailed ex-juror Dennis DeMartin should be released because the judge violated the law with a harsh sentence designed to "send a message to the community," a defense attorney argued this week. Last month, Palm Beach County Chief Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath sentenced the disgraced former John Goodman juror to five months and 29 days in the county jail, after finding DeMartin guilty of criminal contempt for his actions before convicting the Wellington polo executive of DUI manslaughter in 2012.

There may not be many defense witnesses in the Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis murder trial, a Broward judge was told Tuesday. There may be one. There may be two. There may be none. Defense lawyer Christopher Grillo did not tell Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes whether his client, Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari, will take the stand. Other than Ferrari, Grillo said, the defense was focused on just one potential witness — former Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But Grillo was not sure he could get the witness to Fort Lauderdale in time to take the stand.

The city manager, who's also the former police chief, dropped a bombshell on city commissioners: He was a secret informant who told the FBI that an elected city official might be involved in wrongdoing. The revelation comes as the Margate City Commission asked City Manager Jerry Blough to investigate his police department for any alleged involvement in "helping" former City Commissioner David McLean. More than a year after Blough's tip in January 2012, McLean was arrested and charged with bribery.

Our state government should be ashamed of the new texting law. If texting is as dangerous and distracting as we are led to believe, then it should simply be illegal and the laws governing it should be enforceable. Needing a secondary reason for stopping a driver who is texting is a cop out and a disgrace. Floriduh! At its worst. Harold Heydt, Lake Worth

A Boca Raton eye doctor wants to see the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office do better. Dr. Howard B. Goldman, 65, said he hopes no other parent or grandparent will ever have to experience anything like the freakish incident on Feb. 27 at a Boynton Beach day care — in which an apparently mentally ill man walked into the Lyons Road facility and claimed, "God sent me here to take the children. " Goldman criticized the Sheriff's Office for taking an estimated 40 minutes to respond to 911 calls made at about 7 a.m. by staffers at the Learning Experience.

On Feb. 11, with the utterance of three words, "Guilty, Your Honor," Jim Greer prematurely ended an ugly chapter in the Republican Party of Florida's history. The disgraced former party chair also dashed the hopes of many who wanted to see the fireworks of a full-blown trial and accountability for all who participated in illegal or unethical behavior. The story began in 2006, when Greer, handpicked by then Gov.-elect Charlie Crist and backed by leaders in the Florida Legislature, just barely received enough votes to become the Republican Party of Florida's chair. He was re-elected two years later.